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How do I put my 11-year-old on a diet?Every weekday, a CNNHealth expert doctor answers a viewer question. On Friday, it's Dr. Melina Jampolis, a physician nutrition specialist. Question asked by Asked by Lisa How do I put my 11-year-old daughter on a diet? She is 50 pounds overweight, though she only looks about 20 pounds over. She has a lot of muscle. She plays sports year-round. She is a picky, picky eater. She has asked to go on a diet, but I don't think that an 11-year-old should, even though it's unhealthy to be so overweight. I have told her she will need to give up sweetened drinks, sweet snacks and white bread products. Any other ideas that will not be too drastic but will show results?
Expert answer Hi Lisa. I answered your question a couple of months ago but I received some excellent feedback from pediatric endocrinologist Craig Rudlin MD, FAAP, so I wanted to expand on my answer and make a slight correction based on the information that Dr. Rudlin provided. A 2005 paper from the Pediatric Endocrine Society about childhood obesity suggested a more aggressive approach based on the associated health complications of overweight children, including high cholesterol, high blood pressure and pre-diabetes. Specifically, for children with a BMI (body mass index– here's a calculator) of 85-95 percent, rather than focusing on weight maintenance, as I previously stated, the paper recommends "a modified diet with decreased sedentary activities." They go on to recommend an even "more aggressive approach toward children and adolescents with BMI at or above the 95th percentile or in less obese children who suffer metabolic, orthopedic, or cardiopulmonary complications and/or psychological distress." Dr. Rudlin, who treats overweight and obese children, says the weight loss goal should be about 1 pound per week, and that some older children and teens can safely lose 2 pounds per week. When I expressed concerns about losing weight while children are still growing, he explained that a nutrient dense, portion-controlled diet, which he advocates rather than avoiding any particular food group, could actually improve growth. "If they are eating a balanced diet of all five food groups, they are getting all the nutrients, protein, calcium, vitamins they need and the weight loss is from the loss of adipose tissue, which is desirable." He also suggested measuring height every three months if this is a concern. Regarding my suggestion to eat more vegetables, he suggested that I emphasize that parents try to increase their children's consumption of non-starchy vegetables, especially green vegetables. If your child refuses to eat vegetables, try to re-introduce foods over the years as taste buds change. It is also critical to be a good role model and consume a variety of vegetables yourself on a regular basis. In addition to my previous suggestions, which included eating breakfast daily, increasing fiber intake and limiting juice consumption, here are a few more suggestions from the childhood obesity consensus paper that I think would be useful for you to adopt as a family to support your daughter's weight loss efforts. 1. Eat meals as a family in a fixed place and time. 2. Do not skip meals, especially breakfast. 3. No TV during meals. 4. Use small plates and keep serving dishes away from the table. 5. Avoid unnecessary sweet or fatty foods and soft drinks. 6. Remove televisions from children's bedrooms; restrict times for TV viewing and video games. And finally, although you mentioned that your daughter was very active in sports, make sure that she gets at least 60 minutes per day of exercise per the latest exercise guidelines for children. In case you need the reference, here is the consensus statement regarding childhood obesity. |
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I am an overweight 46 year old and started becoming one at about age 10-12. All I have ever been told is what I can not eat, or what I just ate was wrong. But nothing available inside my house changed. As a kid, my home was full of convenience foods: Hamburger Helper, Mac and Cheese, Southern Casseroles, any kind of quick meal you can make with a can of soup, minute rice and cheese or buttery sauce, cereal, whole milk, Coke and Tab, lots of tea and yes with sugar. There was never balance. My mother would gain 10 lbs, then the whole house was on the latest tabloid diet. She felt good, the whole house was gorged. No balance. In order for a child to eat a balanced diet the whole must eat that way. No child can be expected not to eat something that is in their reach. Your child is a year round athlete, and that uses a lot of fuel and you're hungry. Maybe being a little more time consious about when you eat in the day, avoiding sport fields foods. It is a full famly effort. Good Luck
Please do not use the word diet with your child. If they play sports and are not couch potato's then they can have some "baby" fat. My mother ruined my metabolism by putting me on diets when I was a kid. Now I have to work twice as hard to keep the weight off. MY teenage daughter looked like me when I was a kid but I refused to put her on a diet. I emphasized healthy eating with her and now that she is about to turn 18 she looks awesome! According to my mother when my daughter was 8 she was going to be a cow her whole life... well it did not work out that way.
Please people take care of your daughter's!
Weight Watchers. As of today I have lost 70.8 lbs. It is not a diet. I eat food from the store, I eat out, chineese, pizza. At WW, you learn behavior modification, modify your eating habits, your portion size. WW is the way to go for an 11yr old, start early to eat right. Now is a good time. to join. You can do this online also. Good luck.
Pretty Easy actually............next ?????
pretty easy actually.....Next ???????????????
Pretty easy.................what a dumb question and blog..........
How about you don't let your child get fat to begin with. "Omg, you mean...'parenting'?" Morons.
Water instead of drinks and soda will remove plenty of calories.. Start each meal with salad or fruit..
Congrats on recognizing your daughter needs to drop a few pounds. My advice to everyone: when you shop, there are about 3 aisles you dont need to even go down at the grocery store. Dont even tempt yerself. Always keep a bowl of washed fruit out for the kids. After daughters sports events: do NOT pick up fast food, no matter what.
RE: "sweetened drinks, sweet snacks and white bread products".... you know what you need to buy Mom, just DO IT. If she needs a sweetened drink get her no calorie stuff, it's always on sale, if she needs sweet snacks: we call thems fruit or yogurt, white bread: you can buy wheat bread these days thats WHITE in color.
You can do it, mom , and you'll lose weight too. Theres a reason its called: junk food. You're daughter will love you for helping.
How do I put my 11-year-old on a diet? YEAH......STOP FEEDING THE GOD DAMN PIG.
Don't feed your child food with any of the following ingredients: hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame). This will eliminate 90% of junk food. Eat whole grains instead of refined and less sugar; more plants, less animals. If you do this, your body will be healthy.
I completely agree and would also add Blue 1 and Red 40 to the list. Europe and Canada do not allow Aspartame in their foods and Europe will phase out the dyes by the end of the year because of links to cancer, ADHA, allergies (my son was overnight in the hospital bc of eating a blue popsicle!) etc.. Our FDA is fine with it-It is good for capitalism, but not good for our kids! Furthermore-trying to eliminate these items will be a challenge!
I am a physician who provides diet plans to his patients. Somebody wrote that "it is not science". On the contrary, it is science. That is why so many people claim they can't lose weight. There are hundreds of myths regarding obesity, but there is only one scientific way to approach it, and that is to understand what I call "energy management" (don't look for this terminology, I came up with it). The human body (every living thing) needs energy. Just like a car needs gasoline (energy), biological creatures also need energy. For humans it is food. The word "calorie" is an energy measurement unit (like pounds, ounces express weight, gallon, pint, etc. express fluid volume, BTU, joules, calorie expresses energy. In the case of foods, the amount of energy in the given food. When we swallow food, it gets digested, absorbed into our body and eventually turns into energy. There are only two things can happen with energy in our body: 1. Will be used. 2. Will be stored (mostly in form of fat).
The equation is very simple. If one swallows more "energy" (food) than one's body uses up, the rest will be stored. That's how people gain weight. If one swallows less "energy" (food) that one's body needs, the body will reclaim the stored energy (fat) and uses up whatever is the difference between what has been eaten and how much energy the body needs. That's how we lose weight. Therefore, in order to lose weight one must swallow less food (energy) than one uses up, or one must create more energy need (exercise, movement, etc.) or of course the combination of the two.
I am also an amateur computer programmer and I wrote a simple program which allows my patients to choose from a list of activities they are willing to do, how many hours per week, pick the amount of weight they want to lose on the weekly basis (average) and the program will display the number of calories they can swallow a day. All those patients who stick to the regimen lose weight and it is simple as that. I am pretty sure there are such programs available on the internet.
I am willing to answer to non-argumentative questions on:
"docobgyn@yahoo.com"
Please include in the Subject box "CNN Health", because I don't even read emails which otherwise are coming from people unknown to me, let alone answer.
My 11 yr old was about 10 pounds over and was unhappy about the way he looked. I taught him to count calories. We set a goal of 1,500 calories a day. Within 3 months he lost the 10 pounds. I gave him the incentive of $50 if he lost 6 pounds and another $50 if he kept if off for a month, but the biggest key to his success in losing the weight was his desire to do it. It has now been 9 months and he still counts his calories and has maintained the weight loss. He has increased his calorie in take to 1,700.
Another great tactic is to hide small amounts of pureed veggies in favorite foods along with the fruits and veggies on the side. It adds fiber and nutrients and gets the body and taste buds used to the food! I do this for myself as well as my family to make sure I'm getting enough nutrients from my foods! I feel fuller and eat less overall due to this "sneaky" habit.
You will never be a picky eater if you live through real hunger – no money to buy food, or no food to buy even when you have the money. I had about 3 months in my live when I went to bed hungry, so there are no foods that I "don't eat". Perhaps, I don't like something, but there is almost nothing that I won't eat. I taught my kids to accept food with gratitude, to be open to new flavors, to appreciate the fact that fresh produce is available year-round. They have their preferences that I did not create: my son eats salads without any dressings (he says they kill the flavor) and my daughter drinks chocolate milk with everything she eats. Yes, there were "food wars" when they were toddlers, and, yes, I was told to let them eat what they chose. My husband and I agreed that we were not going to cook separate meals for every member of the family, so if they don't eat – they stay hungry, no snacks or junk food. Not only they never went to bed hungry, they developed their own preferences for veggies and fruit.
Now both of our kids are slim (they are 12 and 10), pack their own lunches for school with food they like, eat everything we eat.
I also had a thought about the girl in the article: if she is athletic and still overweight, then, perhaps, her activities are just too much for her; she gets so tired that she needs extra calories. I am in no position to give advice, it is just a thought...
I blame the parents for overweight kids. If you didn't buy the crap, they couldn't get 50 pounds overweight. The parents should be arrested for child abuse if the kid is more then 50 lbs overweight!
The one thing most agree on is diets don't work over the long haul – most gain all of the weight back and usually with more weight tacked on. I searched for 40 years and did every diet and exercise there is...nothing worked until I gave the logic expressed on abraham-hicks dot com a try. Put aside judgement and assumptions and you will come to understand what the now 110lbs skinner me now does – gosh darn it, sounds crazy, but it worked! Thanks Abe!
Blanket statements won't help this child, either. The problem is we have averages on what people "should" weigh and its not always true. For example, I had a doctor that for a while tried to tell me I was overweight and lazy when my ribs were sticking out and I have a very physical job. I went to another doctor that told me my breasts were two sizes larger than the average for my height and I had very muscular thighs and legs due to running up ladders every day. I was actually almost UNDER weight, but my previous doctor went by numbers in a book instead of common sense and could've really screwed with my health had I listened to him.
Muscle ways far more than fat. This girl should get checked for how much of her weight is fat before deciding how much weight she should lose.
ALso, anyone saying "just stop eating" shouldn't be allowed to parent. EVER. You are cruel, disgusting, sick creatures that will just breed self-hating children.
Tough love is what is required.
You wre strong to ask for help now move forward.
Self Regulation requires effort, so ask your fat kid to try harder.
I gave my son David, money to behave.
You could try that aspproach to over eating.
Self regulation is what the family must teach.
The family was our training for life.
does sports all year doesn't really mean much.It's kinda a cope out like"big bones" most kids I see whose parents say this are FAT.Unless you are constantly on the move and sweating ,exhausted at bedtime you are not burning enough calories.Set a good example as a parent,chances are you are overweight too.Walk together every day.simple walking and getting to know more about your child does more good than you know.good luck for your whole family.
Does your 11 year old buy her own food and cook her own meals?
YOU put her on a diet by cooking healthy low cal foods and having
only healthy low cal snacks. She WILL eat healthy if that's the only
alternative.
Try being the parent for a while.
Stop feeding him, stop letting him eat, make him exercise... it's also your fault!
exactly. answer to getting your 11 year old on a diet is to feed him good quality food and well measured...
She is 11, the way you put her on a diet is by giving her healthy food. Every kid is a picky eater, but at that age they have no choice but to eat what their parents give them.
Over-feeding/under exercising children amounts to abuse. Parents get your head out of the chicken nuggets/big macs and get your kids on the healthy path.
When giving advice about kids, the BMI calculator should be kid-specific. There is a usage of percentages when determining the relevance of the BMI generated.
This is a joke right??? "... I have told her she will need to give up sweetened drinks, sweet snacks and white bread products.".... Who's the parent here?? Does this ELEVEN YEAR OLD have a well paying job and buys their own food???? Dont buy it, dont have it in the house, and take away things like the internet, phones, TV, and any dang thing else if they disobey, and if that doesn't work, there is always your knee and your hand!!!!! Get a clue Helen and a grip on your life..and that of your kids.. sheesh.. it AINT that hard.....
Um, yes parents should set limits with food as with everything else. But you're blitz krieg approach is psychologically naive. Such harshness sets up a power struggle between parent and child that is likely to result in an adult eating disorder. Lighten up.
Move more, eat less. Obviously she is eating too much of the wrong foods. People always underestimate how much they're eating and overestimate how much they exercise. Just because she's on a team, does she really excert herself? Does she give up? Does she push herself in practice? Diet wise, probably too many carbs.
"...she only looks about 20 pounds over. She has a lot of muscle.."
EXCUSES!!!! It shouldn't take if your children are or not overweight to get rid of the junk food and replace with veggies and fruits.
Weight Watchers, It lets you eat real food, it will teach you how to change your life habits !!! Really works! Plus exercise!
As a former overweight child that grew into an overweight adult, I can say that it is crucial to deal with this now.
Being overweight as a teenager will have many ramifications on her life – social and healthwise. Diets will not help. I've been on Weight Watchers and other programs off and on since I was 11 but none of the plans ever made lasting changes.
What needs to happen is that the ENTIRE FAMILY must change their eating habits. You may not all have to lose weight, but there should be zero unhealthy food entering the house. If eleven year olds can't access junk food, they can't eat it. And it would be cruel to deny her certain foods (i.e. white bread) while other members of the family can still indulge. Think of this as an opportunity to give your entire family a health makeover.
Picky eaters are tough. You must try to broaden her horizons. You can't force her to eat different foods, but she should at least try them. Add a new vegetable or fruit to the menu every week. Don't cook separate meals for her than the rest of the family. And teach good portion control – this is something lacking from American society today. If you can't teach it, schedule a session with a nutritionist.
You said she's already in sports, so she is getting some exercise already. That's great. Add in a few family walks or bicycling trips a week and you'll all feel the benefits, as well as get in some good family time.
And finally, you should consider sending her to a few sessions with a therapist to see if there are underlying problems that need to be treated. I did and my parents still don't know, and won't. I was also relentlessly bullied about my weight, which led to depression, which led to emotional eating, which led to weight gain, so it was always a downward spiral. I had 2 busy working parents and was left home alone after school, where I would comfort myself with eating. I've never talked with my parents about how much they noticed back then but I find it really hard to believe that they didn't notice food disappearing. If you find that you need to lock certain cabinets or the fridge, leave fruit out on the counter for snacks and do so.
Comfort food can become an addiction just as much as drugs can, except that you can't avoid food day-to-day. Helping her now will make a large difference in her life to come.
Hi I was a pleasantly plump at 12, and my parents and I were not aware of the consequences, of watching what we eat, because they never had to while growing up (junk food invasion was just starting in India). But there is another reason for obesity... especially for girls, I had PCOS for 3 years in my teens, we didn't know this, till we actually went for an ultrasound after a year of irregular periods and I think that just worsened or increased my propensity to lose weight. I wasn't obese, but quite overweight at 150 pounds, when my ideal weight should have been 125. So while I was eating a lot more than I should have been I did put on a lot more weight than a regular person would have, if they had eaten the same amount of food. Fortunately my PCOS went away as my hormones realigned by the time I went to college, and I was always between 125-135 weight range after that.... But those high school years were awful, since of course everyone assumes that being overweight is the result of being lazy and greedy (food wise).....
Number 1. Everyone's daily diet should consist of healthy portion sizes of healthy foods.
Number 2. A "diet" should just be reduced portion sizes of the healthy daily diet.
The idea of losing weight by "dieting", where dieting is eating something different than one normally eats for a temporary amount of time until a target weight is achieved, is nonsense and usually leads to failure. Usually this type of diet leads to a temporary weight loss that consisted mostly of fluid and no fat was lost at all.
Losing weight is ridiculously simple and devilishly difficult. Eat healthy foods. Eat them in the right quantities. Exercise. The weight will come off. Period.
This sounds familiar! I started getting chubby around age 10 or 11, and my mother put me on a diet. It worked fairly well and I lost some weight.
What we didn't realize was that my body had simply been preparing for what was to be a major growth spurt. I ended up very tall for a twelve-year-old (grew even more in the years since – I'm 5'10" now), dangerously thin thanks to the diet, and with some nasty food and body-image related issues that were taught to me when I was heavier and that are still with me now. Turns out that that early diet hurt more than it helped.
I'm not saying that there aren't children out there who could stand to lose a few pounds and become familiar with a healthier lifestyle. But I am saying to be careful, and to realize that age 11 or so is when the body is about to make some major changes on its own. Consistently modeling healthy lifelong behaviors such as eating well and exercising is much more effective in the long run than chanting "fatty fatty four-by-four" at your preteen daughter.
My mother put me on a diet when I was 10 or 11 years old and I believe it impaired my ability to lose weight as an adult. I believe that it impaired my metabolism my sister would eat potato chips, chocolate, soda pop etc... and was skinny. I ate vegetables etc... and was chubby and very physically active. I also was going through hormone changes as a preteen. Would the chubbiness have gone away naturally? I was consumed with dieting for the rest of my life (I'm 44 now). Also my sister made dinner time a nightmare crying and carrying on because she didn't like the food she would make herself sick at the table so as not to have to eat proper food. What did that do for my psychological food issues??? I believe people are much too focused on how what the scale says instead of proper diet & exercise. I believe children should not be put on diets but not given soda pop, sugar, potato chips, pop tarts, fast food or junk food in general and let them play. Then if they are a bit chubby don't worry this too will pass.
Also, pre-teen girls are especially concerned with their body image (sad, these days); so you should not make a big deal, or use the words "diet', 'can't', 'pounds', etc. You just change the lifestyle, and if questioned about why the food choices are different, i.e. 'where are the cookies, bread, etc.?'. Just say, "We (and I emphasize WE), don't eat those things anymore." Period. If asked why not, say "Because I decided that I care about the food choices and what we are putting in our bodies and realized I (and I empasize 'I") was making mistakes about what I chose to bring home to us as a family." Period. The end.
This is exactly what I did. I emphasized a growing interest on MY part in keeping the family more healthy. When I addressed the lack of candy or ice cream in the house, I said that it wasn't the kind of food that I wanted our family to eat because it wasn't so healthy for our bodies. I make homemade treats sometimes (because I can reduce the butter and sugar) but I practically never buy packaged snacks – we even got rid of the 100 calorie packs! I was getting into exercise and some weight lifting, so they never questioned that the change was for all of us – not just them. I told them that I had a difficult time leaving the sweets alone if they were in the house. Now when the boys want a treat, they make themselves a smoothie, with a little juice, a little plain soymilk (we have lactose issues) and loads of frozen fruit!
I think a huge problem with picky adult and kids not liking vegetables (and therefore not eating them) is that people generally do a very poor job of cooking them. That sad mushy side of veggies that gets relegated to the the corner of the dinner table is a victim of poor preparation and lack of imagination. Learn how to make a couple of healthy vegetable dishes well (meaning crunchy, flavorful and colorful) and watch your attitude (and your child's) about veg change. And once veggies become a welcome addition to the dinner tables everyone will eat healthier.
Also putting out different salad ingredients and letting them choose what goes into the salad. My kids each like different things, so this works for us.
I have two teenage boys, both of whom were chubby kids. The oldest just seemed to grow into his weight over time, but the youngest did not. He started getting teased, and felt self-conscious about his size. I really struggled with the idea of putting him on a diet – I felt that it was too negative. Here's what I did:
Stopped buying any soda or candy. No cookies, cakes or other sweets in the house. No crackers except triscuits.
Only 100% fruit juice, and only one glass per day. if they finished it before shopping day, then it was just gone.
skim milk, but cut out most other dairy products including sweetened yogurt and most cheeses.
ONLY 100% whole wheat bread and other whole grains (except pasta, which they refused to eat). We stopped making white pasta more than once a month.
I added a fruit bowl filled with fruits, with more in the fridge. Canned fruit with no sugar added. Vegetables, beans, lean meats. Nuts and seeds (in moderation) along with raisins, dried apricots, etc. The boys like hummus, so I keep that in the house, as well as bean dips and such.
Most of the changes I made gradually, without making a fuss about them. I did tell them that the sugary stuff was going away, but I started baking cookies once in a while with whole wheat flour, raisins and a few dark chocolate chips and nuts. These were treats.
Also, I packed their lunch every day and didn't give them money to take to school. Lunch always has a healthy main item (whole grain breads, lean meat, NO CHEESE). Bags of washed and cut fruit, homemade trail mix.
Over time, they adjusted to our new way of eating. It took some time, and all along I began to educate them about food and nutrition. If I read a good article (positive, educational) I left it lying on the table. I got books to read, and left them out. We talked about good food choices. My son was interested, but didn't want me "lecturing" or making him feel bad about it. He would read things when I wasn't around, or take them to his room to read.
My son lost some weight over time, and he grew about 6 inches. Now, he's still carrying a little extra around his belly, but he's in size 30 and 32 waist jeans – no more huskies! He proud of how he's changed his body and he likes to exercise. He's really strong and confident. And yes, he still likes chili cheese fries but he knows that he needs to share an order with a couple of friends instead of eating the whole thing himself!
My older son went on a trip with a friend back in the summer, and ate junk food the whole weekend. He actually said that he was glad to be home and eating our healthy diet, because his digestive system was a mess from three days of junking out!
It takes time and effort but it can be done. I work full time, too. We are all at a healthy weight, and we go to the gym together whenever we can. They will eat different things at friends' houses or out at the movies, but what matters most is the daily attitude towards healthy eating and the 80% of their nutrition that you as an adult can influence.
And one final thing – we rarely eat out. I'm a single mom and can't afford a lot of meals out – I'd rather put my money into good quality groceries and our gym membership!
I follow a principal I came up with and it works great. I call it the ESA principal – eliminate, substitute, add. With every meal I eat, I try to either eliminate one bad thing (such as bacon or cheese from a hamburger or I say "hold the fries"), substitute something bad for something better (foregoing pepperoni on a pizza in favor of leaner Canadian bacon) or simply adding something that is healthy (a can of beans to a rice pilaf or avocado on a sandwich). It's not about dieting, it's about becoming healthier. I also gave up table sugar. Occasionally I will have a sweet treat, but I actually get the shakes if I have something sugar laden now. Your daughter wants to lose weight, so let her meet with a nutritionist and refocus her mindset on being healthy, not thin. Start cooking meals together and let her choose what healthier options she wants and likes. Send her to a food science course (which is amazing) or a cooking class. Give her that element of control over her body and she will have what she needs to become a confident, healthy young woman. She is obviously too young to be doing the shopping, but if she says she wants such-and-such healthy food in the house, then buy it for her. Good luck!
If you encourage the kids to excercise by doing it with them and leading by example thats the way to do it IMO.http://razzlea.blogspot.com/
My daughter is about 50 pounds overweight. My daughter used to go on a diet and lost 50 pounds, but over the years she has gained it all back. She almost had type 2 diebetes(excuse me for spelling). She kept telling me are you going to excercise with me, but i hadn't been able to do it since I am a teacher. What should I do?
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